Last weekend several thousand women took over San Fran on foot and logged some beautiful and scenic miles. 26.2 of them to be exact... and it was awesome. I'm proud to say I completed my first (of hopefully many) full marathons. The conditions weren't fantastic: hurt knee, lots of hills, cold temps and rain to top it all off. I wanted to finish in under 5 hours and finished in 5:30. But considering the conditions I'm thrilled I finished... and now I have a new goal!
Through Team in Training, us marathoners raised over $13 million dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Amazing!
And the theme for this marathon was "I Run to Be" which of course got me thinking. What do I run to be? What made me start running? And I can remember the exact moment. Last fall I had the boys at the zoo... great for people watching. But I couldn't help but notice all the pudgy overweight children and it made me sad, every single one of them had a pudgy overweight parent with them. I was a size 14 at the time, andbarely squeezing into those (did I really just admit that?) And I realized if I kept on that track I wouldn't be setting a good example for my boys, and I wouldn't be staying healthy to live a long life- and I don't want to miss a moment with these precious little dudes. So I signed up for an 8k to get my ass going, literally. And luckily had some amazing friends sign up with me. And from there I just kept running, and getting healthier, and it felt amazing. Feels amazing, and I'm officially addicted. And back into single digit clothing sizes :) So, I run to be... a good role model, strong, healthy, confident, able to fit into skinny jeans, and the list goes on and on. Anyway- here are pictures from the weekend.
The entire main level of NikeTown was devoted to everything marathon-
And the outside of the shop had every marathoner's name on it-
There's mine!
LOVE San Fran, there are compost bins at Starbucks. Awesome.
We were really excited about the mini fridge that was brought up to our room
Friday night we got to head out for some sushi and met up with an old friend Kim who moved from STL to the Berkley area. It was so much fun seeing her, and a sad reminder of how much I wish she still lived here, I miss my wine buddy.
Walking around after dinner we found a Lululemon van, and were REALLY excited about it. I'm seriously in love with that store and all three of wore their pants for the marathon.
In Union Square at the "expotique" picking up our race bibs.
Walking back from the most delicious breakfast at Rocco's. My running partner Michele and her awesome boyfriend Aaron found this spot through "Diners, Dives and Drive Ins" and it was so great. We ate there twice in three days!
Andrea & Mahil... and for some reason lovely blogger is cropping my pictures. In edit mode everything looks perfect and then when I "publish" it's chopping faces off. But it's too late and I'll try to fix that another day- Annoying!
Saturday night there was the Team in Training Inspiration dinner which was seriously amazing. There was a "red carpet" entrance, great speakers and carb loading of course.
Team photo on race day at 4:30 am.
Our custom race bibs. Aubrey got confirmation that she was in remission on the Thursday before we left! Perfect way to start the weekend!
A little inspiration at the start line
Holy runners!
In our "uglies" ready for donation.
Mile 7 water break and a view of the bridge- and another Blogger cropping error. I swear I'm actually in this picture.
Our cheering team that found us a couple different times throughout the race
Really glad we hill trained each week! Check out Wonder Woman... or is it Wonder Man?
At the finish line there were San Fran firemen dressed up on the red carpet with our finishing metals, aka Tiffany silver necklaces. So cool, a bonus to running a women's marathon! The necklace has the theme of the marathon printed on it "I run to be" and then we could get the back engraved.
exhausted post race and so happy we finished!
Our finishing shirts
A well deserved post race cookie and my little blue box
My engraver messed up, and then saved the day. High five!
Some "adult" milkshakes Sunday night... after some adult glasses of sangria, YUM.
My two awesome new running friends I was exceptionally lucky to meet-
I cannot begin to thank everyone enough for their love, support, donations, prayers and well wishes. I would NOT have crossed the finish line without you. And a super special thanks to my amazing husband who sacrificed sleep-in days so I could get my early morning runs in, rubbed my tired sore legs and had confidence in me even when mine was wavering. I love you.
